Tony Gonzalez' Chevy Express - Tight End Transporter

A Limo's Luxury With Silver Subtlety

After 60 minutes of bone-jarring hits, high-flying acrobatics, and scoring touchdowns with ease, Kansas City Chief Pro Bowl tight-end Tony Gonzalez needed to escape the gridiron and head toward some rest and relaxation. Getting away for a weekend-or maybe longer if he's lucky-was as easy as leaving his Los Angeles home and heading towards Las Vegas. Tony's biggest problem was finding the right mode of transportation to take him around. For this solution, Tony contacted Max Gilmore of South County Customs, who is in Lake Forest, California. Max listened to Tony's ideas and went to work to create a one-of-a-kind Chevy Express van that now resembles more of a subtle limo than a family hauler.

After writing down all of the ideas on the South County to-do list, the team quickly got to work doing what they do best: paint and body. Starting with a blank white canvas, the Express van's front grille was removed, along with the front and rear bumpers, and every piece of glass was pulled from the Chevy. After the van was prepped for paint, it was pulled into the paint booth, where it received several coats of PPG Brilliant Silver, and then endless coats of clear were applied. A trick stainless mesh grille was added to the chromed grille, along with a silver-painted Bow Tie. Next, the front turn signal and marker lights were smoked, as were the rear taillights. Before going back into the van, each piece of side and rear glass received two coats of limo black window tint for the ultimate privacy. Looking more like a Stealth bomber than a van, the Chevy was now ready for some other custom goodies.

Mike Hight, of Hight Fabrication, used custom drop shackles out back to drop the van down 4 inches and Eibach lowering coils were used to drop the front 3 inches. To fill each fenderwell, Max selected beautiful 22x9-1/2-inch Milano Motoring M722 chrome wheels. Trying to emulate Tony's BMW 7-series with the big and little wheel look, the South County Customs' team added 265/35R22 Nitto 420S tires up front and 305/40R22 Nitto tires out back. A lowered van not only looks incredibly better, but it also brings the center of gravity down and adds stability and better handling, as well. With the 22-inch Milano Motoring wheels bolted on, the next logical step was to move to the interior.